


Sai no Kawara Jizo Wasan

by Yamayuandadu



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Gen, Mythology References, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:53:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25516072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yamayuandadu/pseuds/Yamayuandadu
Summary: Eiki has to judge an unusual soul which seemingly lacks any deeds which could be judged.An Eika backstory ficlet originally written right after WBaWC demo release.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	Sai no Kawara Jizo Wasan

“Do you realize what you just brought me?” asked freshly instated Yamaxanadu, Eiki Shiki. Her job should, at least in theory, be an easy one. The area she was supposed to preside over as a judge of the dead was small and relatively politically stable, creating very few moral dilemmas to solve when its deceased inhabitants had to make the passage to another life. 

“Yeah. I ferried over a soul. That's what I do for a living, and what my parents did for a living before, and their parents before them, so I know what I'm saying. I'm pretty sure this one is dead so everything's alright,” explained Komachi Onozuka, not quite as freshly instated shinigami in charge of delivering souls of the dead from a small mountainous patch of Japanese countryside near a half-forgotten shrine. This was the third yama under whom she served and likely the first one not to seem like they'll disappear in the wake of a corruption scandal after a mere century or two. Faraway posts such as Higan generally did not attract the most upstanding clerks hell had to offer. To be fair neither did most of its other posts. 

“But look closely! This cannot be!” complained the yama, nervously adjusting her unevenly cut hair. 

“Come on, what do you want? You complain I'm not doing my job every other day, but now you're also complaining that I'm doing it...”

Komachi did not exactly dislike her boss— in fact she liked her considerably more than the previous one. However, a number of her habits were hard to bear. Her strong need to do things by the book no matter how nonsensical it was, the pointless lectures, the naive worldview. Insisting on wearing her full uniform every single day. Wide variety of mildly annoying tics. She was aware some of her habits are similarly irritating to her superior, though, so in the end it all about evened out, and let them remain on perfectly fine professional terms most of the time. 

“But I can't judge this one! She didn't commit any deeds! No sins, no virtuous acts, nothing! How is that possible?”, continued Eiki, pointing at her mirror. It indeed refused to show anything, no matter how close did she place it to the passenger Komachi delivered to Higan. As the final judgment depended heavily on this artifact, the situation was indeed complicated.

The freshly deceased soul did not seem particularly concerned with the argument over the specifics of her passage into the afterlife. Due to the relatively uncommon circumstances of her arrival on this plane of existence, the child had no clue what life is supposed to be like, so all she knew for sure was that this un-life she found herself in was quite enjoyable. First she got a boat ride accompanied by pleasant chatter which she didn't quite understand but assumed to be uplifting, and now it seemed nobody objected to her claiming a wide variety of exciting multi-colored stones from near the riverbed for herself. What else could one ask for? 

“Huh, you're right. That's pretty funny,” agreed Komachi. “I guess it's because she... how do I put this... died before she could truly learn what it means to be alive? Souls can be weird like that sometimes,” she shrugged. 

“I don't believe my ears. You knew what exactly was off about this soul all along and didn't tell me?”

“Hey, you didn't ask directly, I assumed you already figured out that much yourself!”

Eiki didn't say anything and disappeared inside a nearby small shack temporarily serving as a branch office of the Ministry of Right and Wrong in Higan. Funds meant to enable the construction of a proper branch office were defrauded under still unclear circumstances and as the budget for this century was already decided, Eiki inherited it alongside her title. After rummaging through the carefully organized contents of the building for a while while, she emerged, holding a scroll bearing a wide variety of official seals. Whatever was contained within had the approval of all ten kings of Hell and a sizable selection of vassals, subsidiaries, splinter factions, religious emissaries, advisers and lobbyists.

“The official ruling on the fate of the souls of infants should be contained within this bill. According to the preamble it took thirty years of heated debates to decide its contents. Let's hope we won't be let down”, explained the yama.

“You guys get bored often, huh?”

Eiki didn't reply, having decided it'd be unfitting for someone in her position to present her genuine views on the matter in this situation, and instead started looking through the document in hopes of finding any solution to the conundrum they were facing currently. Its cause continued to survey the geological characteristics of Higan, seemingly ignoring both women meant to determine her fate. They presumably lacked the appeal regularly shaped stones had. 

“It's worthless”, sighed Eiki. “It's just... gibberish”, she whispered in disbelief. “Of course, if someone asks, I didn't blatantly criticize an official document like that, is that clear?”

Komachi nodded. Law didn't concern her much, all she really wanted from this job was to be able to continue chatting with at least vaguely interesting people.

“The kings concluded that since reincarnation is decided based on all committed deeds, they're not eligible to wait in the netherworld as they have no record of deeds to speak of. However, it was also decided we can't just send them to heaven because the Celestials would complain their fate is unearned. As far as I can tell Celestials are one step away from proclaiming that even reaching nirvana through ordinary means should be considered unearned valor, but that's besides the point. Ultimately it's up to a yama to decide, which is generally a code word for torment in deep hells which desperately need cheap workforce”, mumbled Eiki. “Of course while the judgment of the yama is supposed to be just, we're also told to, when in doubt, do what benefits Hell the most. I was taught to believe what is recommended by the law is the same as what's right, but deep down I know this really doesn't seem to be a particularly noble course of action. What's next, are we going to debate if being born alone is a sin to be repented for?”

“Can't you just decide yourself what to do, then? You were a jizou, isn't their whole shtick helping dead children? Combine that with your authority as a yama and it should be fine to interpret this law the way you think is right.”

The judge closed her eyes. Memories from back when she was a mere jizou seemed clouded now, but what her underling said was true. Her sole purpose back then was to help children who weren't able to progress normally through the afterlife. Why exactly children of all people were uniformly meant to be troubled in that context, regardless of religion, was rather baffling to her now that she had time to think about it more, but pondering about that had to wait. Naturally for the most part, a jizou was merely meant to quell the grief of mourning parents, but it was an important mission nonetheless. It is only thanks to the firm belief the people had in it that she could gain sentience and eventually ascend to the rank of a yama. Belief shapes reality, and the belief in protection of the statues was strong. She couldn't let the believers down just because an unclear scroll suggested to do so. That was what Eiki's heart told her what was right, and there was no reason to argue with what she knew was the highest moral authority available to her.

The right course of action was clear now.

“How often do we get controls in Higan, Komachi?”

“Uh, not very often? I remember maybe one within last millennium. And they didn't really talk to me or check on anything specific, if I didn't forget anything.”

Eiki smiled. The risk of potentially displeasing her superiors wouldn't be enough to hold her back now, obviously. However, confirming such a risk didn't even exist in the first place will spare her from many sleepless nights.

“Can you help me with preparing, I don't know... a fence, perhaps? That'd be fine as a measure to keep her safe, right? We'll set up a... limbo of sorts for her, here and now. Under my auspice.”

Eika's physical form condensed slowly as the preparations continued. She was uncertain what that meant for her in the long run, but in the short term it meant she could finally bring the geological survey of the banks of Sanzu to a new level. A much welcome development, as she concluded.

A yama's word binds the dead unconditionally, and the yama currently realizing she knew much less about fences than the assumed decided it'll be for the best to let the small ghost enjoy her lifeless life.

**Author's Note:**

> The title is borrowed from a real hymn to Jizou.
> 
> The challenge here was to write a backstory for Eika without directly invoking the myth of Hiruko/Ebisu - I do want to use that in a story some day too though.


End file.
